Sarkozy Steps Closer to Return to Political Stage

PARIS—Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday took a step closer to returning to the political stage, resigning from a constitutional oversight body whose members are expected to remain above the fray.

Mr. Sarkozy issued a statement announcing his resignation from France's Constitutional Council moments after the body upheld a ruling by France's election watchdog, which ruled in December that Mr. Sarkozy's center-right UMP party violated campaign spending laws during the former president's failed 2012 re-election...